Meghan McGonigle
Professor Britt
English 101
14 February 2014

Beginning of a Passion Has anyone heard of this starting a sentence, 'It all started with a mouse,"? Well, that’s how it started for one such famous Animator and creator of most of our beloved movies while growing up, Walt Disney. Disney was inspirational to other artists out there in not only animating but story writing as well. But how, one might ask, did Walt Disney get into animation and becoming famous as he is now. Well, to get to that, we start in the beginning, to the early twentieth century. Walt Disney was very interested in art at a young age, as he would sell his drawings to his neighbors to make some money. Soon, he pursued into his art career, by studying art and photography by going to McKinley High School in Chicago. As he grew, Walt began to love and appreciate nature and wildlife, and that of family and community. He was encouraged by both his mother, and older brother, Roy, to pursue in his talents. During the fall of 1918, Disney attempted to get himself enlisted for military service, but was rejected due to him being underage at only sixteen years old during that time. So instead, he joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas to France, where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. But the funny thing was that Disney's ambulance was covered from stern to stern, not with stock camouflage, but with his cartoons.

When Disney got back from France, he began to pursue a career in commercial art, which he started a small company called Laugh-O-Grams; which later full into bankruptcy. So, with his suitcase, and twenty dollars, Disney headed to Hollywood to start anew. Soon, after making a success of his "Alice Comedies," Walt became a recognized Hollywood figure, which led to him marrying one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds, and later be blessed with two daughters, Diane and Sharon. On December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated musical feature, premiered at the Carthay Theater in Los Angeles. This film produced in the most unheard cost of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Depression, and this film is still considered one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry. During the next five years, Walt Disney Studios completed other full-length animated classes such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. Walt Disney is a legend; a folk hero of the 20th century. With his worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which his name represents: imagination, optimism, creation. and self-made success in the American tradition. He brought people closer to the future, while telling them of the past, it is certain, that there will never be such as a great man, as Walt Disney.

Work Cited
Barrier, Michael . Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516729-5.
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Chytry, Josef. “Walt Disney and the Creation of Emotional Environments: Interpreting Walt Disney’s Oeuvre from the Disney Studios to Disneyland, CalArts, and the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow,” Rethinking History, 16, 259–78.
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Schickel, Richard, and Dee, Ivan R. . The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher. ISBN 1-56663-158-0.
Sherman, Robert B. and Sherman, Richard M. . Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond. ISBN 0-9646059-3-7
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